Fastest Growing Industry Also Well-Paid

“Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work,”  said the inventor Thomas Edison.

According to American economists, the fastest growing industry has little to do with work traditionally done in overalls.  Over the next decade, it’s predicted that the most rapid job creation will occur in  the management, scientific, and technical consulting services industry.  This field is expected to grow by 83 percent (more than 800,000 jobs) over the 2008–18 decade, which is both the fastest projected rate of growth and the largest expected job gain of all detailed industries.

While this is certainly good news for people in these professions, it begs the question why there won’t be an equivalent number of new jobs for people who work with their hands.

This job growth is happening in a field with high salaries.  Management analysts working in the management, scientific, and technical consulting services industry earned a median annual wage of $82,100 in May 2009. Market research analysts who work in the industry earned $56,850, and environmental scientists and specialists, including health, earned $61,880.

In May 2009, there were about 552,770 management analysts employed overall, with more than a quarter of them working in management, scientific, and technical consulting services.

The total number of market research analysts employed in May 2009 was 226,410, and about 24,870 (11 percent) of them worked in the management, scientific, and technical consulting industry.

About 83,530 environmental scientists and specialists were employed across all industries in May 2009, including 17,250 (21 percent) who worked in management, scientific, and technical consulting services.